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The Sweetest Punch to open for Ed Kowalczyk, former lead singer of Live

Interview with Ashley Burkhart and Jeremy Rogers

Ashley Burkhart and Jeremy Rogers are The Sweetest Punch, a local music group who will open for Ed Kowalczyk on Feb. 1 in the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.

The Sweetest Punch, a local music group, is made up of Ashley Burkhart and Jeremy Rogers, with Andy Calvert playing with the duo from time to time.

“I guess I’d classify us as a folk band with bluegrass and old timey tendencies,” Rogers said, who also is a member of the local band, The Wobbly Toms, who just released “Panic in the Old Town Tonight” on Dec. 14 at The Standard.

Rogers learned to play the guitar from lessons with Bob Patterson, a local singer-songwriter who recently opened for Tom Rush in the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.

The Sweetest Punch will open for Ed Kowalczyk on Feb. 1 in the same venue. Kowalczyz is the former lead singer of the band Live, which sold 20 million copies worldwide of the 1994 album “Throwing Copper,” with the hit song “Lightning Crashes.”

Burkhart is fairly new to the music scene, having been a finalist in a singer-songwriter contest at Rendezvous Beer Bar in downtown St. Augustine.

“I’ve only really sang in front of people the times that Jeremy and I have played together,” Burkhart said.

The Sweetest Punch was formed after Rogers saw a few videos Burkhart posted on facebook.

Since then, they have performed in local venues such as The Floridian, Rendezvous, The Lincolnville Farmers Market, and in the Burro Bar in Jacksonville, and the Bleu Pub in Valdosta, Ga.

“We’re recording an EP with Lu Rubino and hope to have it finished this spring,” Rogers said.

The group also has recorded a few EPs in Satsuma in Putnam County.

“My folks have a place on Dunns Creek and its very peaceful and beautiful. We love to write and rehearse here. It feels like home,” Rogers said.

Burkhart, 24, plays the guitar and is trying to learn to play the harmonica.

In addition to performing around town, she’s “currently in school persuing radiography.”

“Our music is a compilation of things that both of us had written prior to getting together,” Burkhart said.

“Our first song we wrote together, “Lonely Floor,” got us on a radio station a week after we put it online, which was exciting and encouraging. We ended up recording in Satsuma because his parents have a house on the canal out there. We both are very busy and don’t get to spend much down time together, so went went out there for an escape and a chance to get some songs together.”

Rogers, age 36, is a father, a cub scout den leader, and works at Marsh Creek as an assistant controller.